BENGALURU: The Yediyurappa cabinet became bigger with the induction of 10 more ministers on Thursday.
Of the 27 ministers in the cabinet, more than 40 per cent are from Bengaluru and Belagavi districts, while 13 districts have no representation, creating a regional imbalance.
Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa inducted 17 ministers into his cabinet in August 2019, of whom four were from Bengaluru — S Suresh Kumar, V Somanna, R Ashok and Dr CN Ashwath Narayan.
Now in the second instalment, three more have been inducted — Byrathi Basavaraj, Gopalaiah and ST Somashekar.
The chief minister has kept the Bengaluru Development portfolio with himself and most of the newly-inducted and old ministers are eyeing the plum post.
More ministers are likely to be inducted in the near future and the probable candidates are Munirathna, if he wins from the Rajarajeshwarinagar assembly constituency when the elections are held, and Aravind Limbavali, a senior BJP leader.
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The cabinet already had two ministers from Belagavi district — Laxman Savadi and Shashikala Jolle. In the latest expansion, two more have been added — Ramesh Jarkiholi and Shrimant Patil.
There is one minister each from Bagalkot, Chitradurga, Chikkamagaluru, Ballari, Bidar, Hubballi, Dakshina Kannada, Kolar, Haveri, Mandya, Tumakuru, Gadag, Uttara Kannada and Chikkaballapur. Shivamogga has two, including CM Yediyurappa.
But Kalaburagi, Raichur, Koppal, Yadgir, Dakshina Kannada, Mysuru, Kodagu, Chamarajanagar, Hassan, Ramanagara, Bengaluru Rural, Davanagere and Vijayapura have no representation at all, though the saffron party has won a considerable number of seats from these districts.
Former home minister Ramalinga Reddy told TNIE that the normal practice is to give representation to each district. Leaving out many districts will only deepen the imbalance, he said.
A senior BJP leader, requesting anonymity, said that of the 17 rebels who quit the Congress and JDS, a large number is from Bengaluru, and they had to be inducted as the CM had promised them ministries.
“Of the four assembly segments in the city, rebels have won three. It does not send out a positive signal when turncoats are given berths, ignoring loyal BJP workers,” he said.
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Political analyst Prof Harish Ramaswamy said that it is the government’s duty to give representation to all regions.
“Since newcomers know that the government is giving them more mileage, they will demand more. This will create problems, and sends out a message that the migrants are valued more than old party members,’’ he said.